210 On the Method employed to remove the Vaulted Roof of [Apr1l> 



is now brought up at right angles with the foot of the steps, which 

 has an unseemly and awkward effect. 



The native architect in the palaces of the east provides not for car- 

 riages, but how suitable is the lofty arched gate with its music galleries 

 for the train of towered elephants and horsemen issuing from the 

 interior court. Under the sloping chhaja or cornice of the native 

 dwelling, or baithak-khaneh, the architect inserts iron rings for the strip- 

 ed pavilions it is intended to bear. They look natural to it, as they are 

 necessary to the climate ; whereas how may not the Ionic facade of the 

 Martiniere be disfigured hereafter, perhaps, by Venetians run up between 

 the columns of its fine portico, as in the left wing of the Government 

 house, or by matted hoods gracing the southern windows of each 

 wing ? 



Too much stress cannot be laid on the proper adaptation of style to 

 the climate. The architect's duty is but half performed, if he provide 

 not for every contingency to which his building may be subject, whether 

 in respect to durability or to convenience ; and even when the former is 

 attended to, the latter is too frequently neglected. 



A striking instance of the bad effects of inattention to apparently 

 trivial objects of this nature is afforded in the subject of the present 

 notice. Major Hutchinson designed and executed a gothic vaulted 

 church roof in brick, the first attempted in India. He neglected to 

 make provision for the hanging of punkahs, and upon a representation 

 of their being wanted, the executive department, with little calculation 

 of the disturbance of equilibrium or strength of materials, ordered holes 

 to be cut at the head of the clustered columns, to admit beams to 

 swing them. Had the architect at first, as he has now done, let in iron 

 rods to sustain the punkah ropes, his work would have been uninjured, 

 and Government have been saved double, nay triple, expenditure ; and 

 his fame have been preserved from unmerited censure. Few people in 

 such cases calmly inquire into particulars ; they ask, who raised the 

 fabric, and upon his head lay the onus of the failure. 



We are glad, with reference to this last fact, at having obtained per- 

 mission to make public the report of the real circumstances given in 

 to the Military Board in June, 1832, with its explanatory section. 



It is necessary to recapitulate to such of our readers as are unac- 

 quainted with the facts, that about six years ago the vaulted roof of St. 

 Peter's was condemned as unsafe, and was ordered to be demolished. 

 The keystone or vertex of the central and side vaults had opened from 

 end to end, and other dangerous symptoms were observed. Committees 

 were held, and a variety of opinion as to the cause elicited, but the 

 necessity of demolition was general, and Major Hutchinson was 



